


when you're ready

by olive2read



Category: Schitt's Creek, Score: A Hockey Musical (2010)
Genre: Bailey's story, M/M, Missing Scene s05e07, Podfic Welcome, audition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23161684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olive2read/pseuds/olive2read
Summary: Patrick thought all he needed to prepare was a song, he wasn't ready to give a monologue ... but there wasonething he knew well enough ...
Relationships: Moira Rose & Jocelyn Schitt, Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 15
Kudos: 33





	when you're ready

**Author's Note:**

  * For [codswallop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/codswallop/gifts).



> Thank you, my lovely friend, for all the SCORE joy — past, present, and future 🥰

> Can you tell  
>  I have been revised?  
>  It's so swell  
>  Damn it, even I'm surprised  
>  We laugh, we fumble  
>  We take it day by day  
>  What more can I say?

As the pianist played the last few notes, Patrick came back to himself. His chest was heaving a bit more than he liked—it had been nearly impossible to rehearse without David overhearing and this song [1] was a little too true for him to sing in front of his love before it was note-perfect—but overall he was pleased with his performance. He looked up to find Jocelyn smiling at him, nodding enthusiastically, and he felt himself flush as he ducked his head, his face beaming a smile back to her. It had been awhile since he’d done any theatre and it was good to feel like he still had it. His warm glow of success only lasted until his eyes flicked to Mrs. Rose for her reaction.

She raised a sceptical eyebrow at Jocelyn and Patrick felt his heart drop, landing somewhere between his toes. Part of him wanted to sink down with it—he’d only been a little anxious prior to the audition but coming in to find Mrs. Rose seated next to Jocelyn, with the memory of her Cabaret story fresh in his mind, had ramped his nerves up more than a few notches. He kept himself upright, with what he hoped was a smile plastered on his face.

Mrs. Rose finally turned to him, her features conveying boredom tinged with just a hint of sadness, as she let out a deep, soulful sigh. “Thank you, Patrick. I’m sure that was meant to be sweet and tender but we are already au courant with your aptitude as a chansonnier. The challenge, dear boy, was to showcase your talent as a Thespian.”

Patrick was more than a bit taken aback. He was sure he had stretched himself with that song. Had his choice been too true to life to demonstrate any acting? Perhaps, he thought ruefully, all of the growth he’d felt while preparing it had been in readying himself to put that vulnerability on public display, and not in the choice itself.

He realised that Mrs. Rose was still talking and tuned back in just in time to hear, “something more for us?” She clasped her hands and blinked up at him expectantly.

He swallowed. “I, um,” he paused as his embarrassment burbled out of him in a weak laugh before he could stop it. “I, uh, didn’t prepare anything else.”

She shook her head with an air of infinite regret. “Well, that is a shame. Still, I suppose we must applaud your intentions.” Maybe she was applauding on the inside but it didn’t really like look it. Then again, he reminded himself, Mrs. Rose was difficult to read sometimes.

“Hang on a sec, Moira,” Jocelyn said. “I’m sure we can give Patrick a chance to, um, to bring something else in.”

Mrs. Rose looked at her, aghast. “Oh no, Jocelyn. While I appreciate the can-do sentiment, how would it appear if we allowed our personal partiality to afford Patrick an opportunity so many others have been denied?”

“But ...” Jocelyn looked confused. “H-have they—” she started to ask, but Mrs. Rose cut her off.

“Alas, on this we must be firm, but fair. Now, who is next in the line up?”

Throughout this exchange, Patrick had been feverishly wracking his brain, trying to come up with something he knew well enough to perform immediately. He bit his lip, took a deep breath, and sighed. The only thing that came to mind made him cringe but, if he was going to do this, he had to do it now.

“Wait! I, um, I’ve got something.” His palms were starting to sweat. Maybe he’d missed the window and Mrs. Rose wouldn’t let him do it after all, so no one would ever have to know this about him.

He was both elated and chagrined when she magnanimously waved at him to begin. He closed his eyes. Years before, his cousin Noah had been in a musical about hockey and it was one of Patrick’s most closely guarded secrets that he knew the entire film, word for word. He wasn’t ashamed, exactly. It just wasn’t the sort of thing that people understood and he'd learned a long time ago to hide his earnest love for it.

He'd left the DVD at home in Cedar Grove but he'd missed it so much that he'd pulled it up on youtube whenever Ray was out of town for one of his businesses. He hadn't seen it since he and David started dating. As he’d found himself falling for David—his tall, dark, and fabulous boyfriend—he’d also understood more of his youthful feelings about Moose—the tall, dark, and rugged enforcer character.

Standing here trying to come up with a monologue he could use, under the heavy weight of Mrs. Rose's criticism, was challenging enough that his brain sought out the comfort and familiarity of Score. He’d considered and discarded multiple scenes as too cheerful, or too musical, before finally settling on his favourite dramatic moment: the speech Maurice, the goalie, gives to young Farley Gordon after their first game together.

He relaxed and sank into the character, feeling Maurice’s turmoil. This was a pivotal moment for Maurice. Bailey, his long time friend and colleague, was about to get some terrible news and the rookie upstart who’d stolen Bailey’s place out from under him needed to be taken down a peg. Grabbing his motivation by the balls, he opened his eyes and began.

> Because you’re on the team, Bailey’s off. True, his ... on-ice skills might have been better served driving a Zamboni ... but ... he was like a son to Coach Donker. Especially after … Bailey lost both his parents to a grizzly attack. Hockey was that damn orphan’s life ... his family.
> 
> He’ll probably start pouring beer on his ... breakfast cereals … knock up his ... uglier than day-old poutine girlfriend.
> 
> One marriage, two children, three affairs ... significant hair loss, back acne, weight gain ... and then twenty years later he will be unceremoniously laid off from his miserable job.
> 
> The stress of this will lead to a fatal heart attack within a week ... but at least death will free him from the bitterness he’s felt every. damn. minute. since that Brampton Blades jersey was ripped from his heart. But, that’s just a guess.
> 
> Welcome aboard!

This time when he finished, there was no sunny smile from Jocelyn to greet him. She surreptitiously wiped away a tear as Mrs. Rose slow-clapped. He couldn’t be sure but it seemed as though the clap was genuine, the slowness simply a reflection of her flair for the dramatic and not any biting criticism. He steeled himself for the latter, however, just in case.

“Oh my, yes, Patrick! That was much better. You have surely plumbed the depths of our hearts with that small touch of gravitas.” She snapped her fingers to get the attention of a young woman who was hovering in the doorway. “You, there.”

“Beth,” Jocelyn whispered.

“Well, of course, Jocelyn, I knew that. Beth, dear, yes, you. Would you come in for a moment?” The young woman approached tentatively. Mrs. Rose waved at Janice who jolted in surprise and then jumped up, walking quickly toward Patrick and Beth, handing each of them a script. “Let’s see how you do with a dialogue, shall we? Act I, Scene 10, start on page 51.”

“Wait, Moira, which scene is that?” Jocelyn asked, turning pages.

“Shhhh,” Mrs. Rose replied, not taking her eyes off Patrick.

Asking him to read another scene had to be a good sign, right? Patrick flipped quickly through his script and found the applicable scene. He gave himself a minute to orientate to Cliff’s character, took a deep breath, and began.

> It’s true. Nobody could work with you around.

**Author's Note:**

> Cheers to [Distractivate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Distractivate) for the lightning cohesion beta 💚 I appreciate you so much, friend.
> 
> A thousand thanks also to [Kira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiranerys42) for confirming the monologue text with the DVD subtitles!!
> 
>  **1** Patrick's audition song is "What More Can I Say?" from Falsettos. [Here's Christian Borle](https://youtu.be/HqZppq7FYtM) singing it in the 2016 Broadway Revival Cast Recording. [return to fic]


End file.
